The rough guide to being successful at work (real advice for real people) pptx

The rough guide to
being successful at
work (real advice for
real people)



by The Rough Guider



I dedicate this book to all the managers and staff that I have had the
pleasure of working with over the last (nearly) 25 years. I have sincere
gratitude for the knowledge you have passed to me downwards and upwards
(and sideways) and for the experiences I have gained from working with
you. This has taught me almost everything I know about the workplace!
The rough guide to being successful at work
(real advice for real people)
Contents

Introduction
Making a good impression
Managing staff
Leading
Actively managing your career
Building joy into your work
How to write
Presentation Skills
Negotiation skills
Down time
Body language

Chairing Meetings
Networking

Contents (continued)
Politics
Your brand
Random tips (and some fun)
Introduction

For a while now I have been wondering why I can’t locate a book that sets out in a clear no
nonsense approach how to be successful at work. I’m talking about easily digestible
practical steps that can easily be put into practice at the workplace. So what with having
gained over 20 years of management experience across six companies all within different
industries I thought it was time that someone (me!) put this right.
All the things I write about are from first-hand experience and have worked ever so well for
me. You won’t find any name dropping, famous or contemporary theoretical models,
complicated flow-charts or difficult to understand diagrams. What you will find is simple
words, simple vocabulary, simple paragraphs and simple chapters including ideas and
advice that are very easy to implement in your day to day lives at work.
So my promise to you is to include advice and ideas that:
• are easy to follow
• are easy to try out
• actually work in practice (they are all tried and tested)
• can be remembered easily.
Easy really!

By the way I love bullet points. This is something that will become apparent very quickly as
you glide through this book.
Making a good impression and working
happily ever after

OK, so let’s start at the beginning. It’s your first day at work and you want to make a good
impression. That’s done by impressing those around you (obviously), but who do you really
need to do to impress on that first day at the office and forever after?

• Your boss?

• Your boss’s boss?

• Your staff?

• Your peers?

• The CEO?

• The receptionist?

The answer is of course all of them, BUT the ones you need to concentrate on first are your
boss (this chapter) and your staff (see ‘Managing Staff’). If they undermine you, you’re out
of there whether you like it or not.

So how do you impress your boss? Well I could go down the theoretical route of analyzing
personality traits, determining where their personalities lie on the well-known scales and
charts, but I did say that I wasn’t going to do that.

So here is the REAL practical advice:

• Like them and be liked. By this I don’t mean all that brown nose stuff or that you
should try to become their friend (although becoming your boss’s friend can help a
career) but really try hard to understand them, work out what they like and what

they dislike. “So what” I hear you say (email or text), let’s see the practical stuff
that you’re talking about. Well, here it is:

o Find out what makes them laugh – write down what things they react
positively to. Was it an outright joke, an interesting anecdote or do they
really prefer you to jump straight in there and ignore the niceties? Sounds
corny I know, but if you make them laugh they’ll think you’re a good guy. By
the way, if you tell a joke or anecdote or other humorist comment and they
respond badly move on and don’t dwell on it, and certainly don’t repeat it. It
could be a culture issue, language issue or simply a lack of GSOH on their
behalf. But, whatever you do, don’t see it as your fault or problem, don’t lose
any sleep over it but do try a different approach next time. Finding out what
makes them laugh doesn’t need to be done over night. If you are a cautious
person you can monitor their approach to humor over a few weeks before
making your move.

o Find out their pet dislikes. In fact ask them outright.

o Do they dislike projects or tasks being delivered late, or do they dislike
poor communication skills (which, in reality, may mean a lack of
communication)? If your boss has to chase you up on something it
probably means you should have updated them already! So find out how
often they chase up on tasks and make sure you get in there first.

o Do they hate negativity? No-one likes the person around the table that is
negative and unconstructive. How do you know if someone is a negative
force? Simple. If after a conversation with someone you feel energized,
they are a positive force. If after a conversation with someone you feel
tired and drawn, they are a negative force. If you ask me, don’t let
anyone get you down and more importantly, don’t be the person that gets

everyone else down.

o Do they hate bad grammar? See the ‘How to write’ chapter to avoid these
pitfalls.

• Ask intelligent questions. This is a tough one, as sometimes you may be in a
meeting where you don’t know very much about the topic under discussion. My
advice is to follow the rules below to maximize your input and chances of being
recognized as an effective contributor:

o Be confident. If you have an idea, express it. It’s rare that a group laughs or
dismisses an idea outright even if it isn’t really that good. Your ideas will get
better and better over time as will your confidence. It’s a never ending cycle
of improvement.

o Chat beforehand. If it’s an important meeting try to speak to one or two
people either inside or outside the meeting group in advance to help gains
ideas. I don’t mean steal their ideas by passing them off as your own, but if
you agree with them, bring them into the conversation in a structured way.

o Research. Sounds boring I know, but when you research the topic
beforehand it’s amazing what questions may come to mind, which actually
may be pretty damn good.

o Ask the obvious. It’s amazing how many times you have an “obvious”
question in mind and you don’t ask it. Eventually somebody else gets the
plaudits for asking that question or you leave the meeting wondering why you
did not have the confidence to ask it.

o Remember you core skills. If you’re the finance guy then it is fine for you to

ask the pressing finance question. If you’re the sales guy it’s fine to ask the
sales question. Playing to your strengths is a good idea. It allows you to join
in the conversation and add value. [Note: if the topic has absolutely nothing
to do with your area of work, revisit the points above.]

• Help your boss be successful. Sure, I hear you say. I’ll come up with ideas for
improving their department and they will take the credit. Well, if that’s what your
boss is like are you working for the right person or indeed company? Look, if your
boss’s life is made easier and they look more impressive because of your help, 9
times out of 10 (I didn’t have the confidence to say ninety-nine times out of a
hundred) your boss will reward you. This may be through verbal recognition, juicy
project work (if that’s relevant) or letting others know how well you are performing
through both informal channels and the formal appraisal process. So how can you
help your boss look good:

o Tell them what they are doing wrong (tactfully!) and make damn sure that
you have some recommendations for them. No-one likes negativity
remember!

o Find out what their goals are and make sure that your goals tie in to some of
theirs. If it is unclear to you how your goals fit in with theirs, speak to your
boss about this and listen carefully to their guidance.

o Come up with ideas for them on how to improve the performance of their
department. If you have time, offer to help them improve things, but be
careful not to upset others in the department if the matters you identify lie
outside your immediate area of responsibility. I don’t mean tread on egg-
shells but make sure that tact remains the order of the day.

o Say good things about them to other senior management leaders, if such

praise is honest. Indeed there must be something good about them? Are
they good at communicating, listening, recognizing valuable contributions,
developing career paths, being flexible over your working conditions?
Undoubtedly there is something good about them that you can share. Others
will then see you as a positive force within that department. If I was a
betting man I would put money on your boss hearing about this through their
network and then mentally logging that you’re a good person to have in their
team.

o Let them know when things are not getting done (again, avoid negativity).
They may have an important project or area of work that is not progressing
as it should be. If you have clear and substantiated facts to support this then
alert your boss. Avoid rumors and hearsay as this comes across as immature
and may be considered as your attempt to discredit other people within their
department. But at the end of the day your boss will thank you for your
transparency and tactfulness in bringing this issue to their attention.

o Tell them when they have done well. If they have run a department-wide or
group-wide meeting or perhaps smaller meeting for 2-3 people (if you work in
a small team) don’t feel shy about telling them how good they were. We’re
not talking brown-nose stuff here but rather constructive comments about
how the time they have spent on something that has improved the quality of
the department. “Hey boss, it was really great that you took the time to
speak to the team about the company’s strategy for the current year. They
really enjoyed the visibility.” Your boss will certainly remember your support
and will value it.

Is it too late to change? One thing to remember is that it is never too late to
change. I remember a situation where a member of staff had lost their manager (a
careless thing to do) and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new one. The

previous incumbent did not treat them in an adult fashion and did not view them as
a mature and professional individual. Their concern was that the new manager
would immediately assume the same. My advice was to see this as an opportunity
and not a threat to their career. I asked the individual in question to draw up a
profile of how they would like to be viewed by the incoming boss. This ended up
being a simple exercise and the staff member (also a manager, albeit at a more
junior level) put together a pretty cool document. Once I saw the document I
realized that they had a very clear view of how they would like to be perceived. The
key was for them to not simply act like that person but be the person on the
document, from Day 1 (first impressions last and all that). So, I sat down with the
person in question and we came up with a plan on how to act, portray and in fact
truly be that person from here on in. Given that the new manager had no pre-
conceived ideas (I certainly wasn’t going to give them any) it was not that difficult to
continue work with this new persona, gravitas and maturity. Their boss had left and
a new one joined (remember that they hadn’t been promoted into their manager’s
role) but the impression their new boss had of them was entirely different and far
more favorable. 2 years later the manager moved on and the individual was
promoted into their role, which would not have happened if they had not taken the
steps to grow, mature and effectively show themselves to be a more polished and
complete person (from a work point of view). Remember, if you inherit a new boss
(under any circumstance) it is your opportunity to reinvent yourself for the better.
Don’t miss that opportunity or doubt how significant a timely review of self can make
to your career trajectory.

• Towing the party line. Generally speaking, people admire those that defend the
principles and support the objectives of their boss and department respectively. You
may disagree with your boss behind closed doors but it is important that you tow the
party line in the public arena. Slating your boss is not a wise idea and is likely to be
destructive to your relationship with them.

Managing Staff

You see, by writing ‘managing staff’ I’m already sending you down the wrong track. So
between you and me I’d rather call this chapter ‘getting the most out of your staff but
in a way that also means that they get the most out of their job’. OK, ‘managing
staff’ it is.

The thing is, I can’t believe how many of my friends and relatives tell me that they have a
serious issue with their manager. Don’t get me wrong, loads of people say that they are
truly happy (yes, I admit that there are undoubtedly better managers out there than me),
but too many still seem to go home very unhappy with the way they are “used and abused”
by their boss. So this chapter is for those who want to improve the way they work with
their staff.

So how should you manage staff? It’s bullet point time:

• Treat them with respect. They’re not children, they have pride and they have
feelings. So speak to them as you’d like to be treated. If your boss does not treat
you well don’t let this affect the relationships you have built up with your team. It’s
not fair to pass ‘bad culture’ down the line. If your boss shouts at you that’s an
issue for you and your boss to resolve but don’t let that affect your relationship with
your staff (peers and so on). In particular:

o Don’t patronize

o Ask for input from staff at meetings

o Be clear to them when they don’t meet your expectations (seriously, they’ll
respect you for it)

o Recognize good performance (see below)

• Give them time. Everyone has their own values in life and one of those important
to many is to spend time with loved ones. Well, low and behold, it is the same at
work. Make sure that your staff know that they can knock on your door to discuss
something important to them and, even more importantly, they have the confidence
that you will take their issue seriously.

• Don’t fob them off. Staff have feelings too. When they bring an issue to your
attention make sure that you agree on how you will help, logging down any action
points for yourself, and come back to them with your feedback in a timely manner.
If they ask for your help and you offer to help, make sure that you actually help and
it is visible to them. Otherwise you’ll be worse off than if you didn’t offer to help in
the first place.

• Listen. Ok, all good management books highlight the importance of listening. But
this is a different kind of listening. Why don’t you ask one of your key staff out for a
coffee at break or lunch (or simply go to a meeting room or your office) and ask
them to speak about their life at work; frustrations, likes, dislikes and so on. Agree
not to interrupt them for (say) 10 minutes. And, whatever you do, don’t interrupt
them. They will feel totally refreshed after the 10 minutes and you will feel really
good too. (Weirdly) you’ll also feel so much closer to them and that new bond will
probably survive for a few months without much further effort. So just think how
strong it would be if you repeated that exercise on a regular basis – perhaps 2-3
times a year. After they have finished you should comment and of course offer
advice and guidance when this is required. Don’t forget to follow up on the things
you have agreed to look into.

• Listen. In case you skipped the paragraph above. Listening is so very important
and by the way this isn’t the time to skim read.

• Set clear objectives and goals. I know that this sounds so obvious and looks like
it has been taken right out of a standard textbook but if they don’t have clear
objectives and goals (or whatever you want to call them) you can’t fairly judge their
performance. How do you set these? A concise bullet point summary is shown
below:

o Set targets (it’s the same thing) that are achievable

o Set targets that are challenging (but the bullet point above still holds)

o Set targets that if achieved make them look good

o Set targets that if achieved should certainly make you look good

o Let them know how their goals fit into the overall goals of the department and
business. Where do they fit into the overall picture?

If they achieve their targets they should know without doubt that you’re happy with
them. This leads me on nicely to the next point.

• Recognize their contributions. Staff wish to be recognized in different ways so
get to know them. How you recognize your staff is very important and you should
consider the following factors:

o Frequency of recognition. Don’t overdo it or you will come across as insincere
but do make sure that you regularly thank your staff when it is merited by
their performance.

o Formalness of recognition. Recognition varies from a ‘pat on the back’ to a

verbal thank you, to a formal email, perhaps copying of forwarding the
communication to your boss as well. Whichever route you take, and it’s good
to mix these up, keep it honest, regular and clear.

Profile sessions. One other thing that I have found very useful is to run what I call ‘profile
sessions’ with staff on a one to one basis. I have the weekly meeting where I run through
all the tasks that should be complete, project stage gates that should have been passed and
so on, but I also run monthly (sometimes every other month) meetings where we talk about
nothing other than their brand within the company. What do I mean by this (also see ‘Your
brand’)?

• How are they perceived by others within the company and how can we improve that
perception. Perhaps better writing or presentation skills.

• How strong is their network within the company (see ‘Networking’)? Let’s come up
with actual names of people within the company that they should pro-actively
contact and build relationships with.

• What projects or tasks are they working on that have gone well and could be
recognized publicly? This is a double-whammy. If I email the senior management
team about how well one of my members of staff have performed on (say) a project,
they will not only email that member of staff to congratulate them, which means that
member of staff is happy with me, but they will also email me to say what a great
job I am doing in managing that member of staff. It’s great, a win-win situation and
it is so easy.

• Agree what communications they could send out to raise their profile. Rather than
you sending a communication about the office re-fit, perhaps your number two could
do this (come on, don’t be a control freak).

• Review and agree whether their current profile within the company is enhancing their
career. Correct that course if needed. In other words, if the things they are doing
are not helping develop a good persona at work stop and think of some new ones.
Now that you have the general idea, feel free to add to my bullet point list!

The hard conversation. As a manager it is part and parcel of your job to speak to staff to
not only reward and recognize them for good work but to speak to them when they are not
performing to the levels expected of them. Sometimes we can be tempted to shirk our
responsibilities (particularly if we are time pressured) avoiding that hard conversation which
often starts with the phrase “Can I see you for a minute?” However, top performance (or at
least the most significantly improved performance) often materializes subsequent to such
discussions. Their respect for you as a manager should actually go up rather than down as
long as you have been constructive, realistic, fair, transparent and tactful. Let’s take these
in turn:

• Constructive – provide them with a clear picture of what needs to improve along with
a workable plan on how to do so

• Realistic – make sure that they can achieve the goals set for improved performance

• Be fair, taking into account any mitigating factors. It is not surprising that (say) a
death in the family can dramatically affect short term performance

• Be transparent – have a 2-way dialogue in which you should be clear that you are
disappointed. Remind them of their strengths and why you believe in them. Ask
them if there is more you should be doing to help them.

• Above all, be tactful. Stay patient with them but make it clear that you expect to
see some significant improvement now that you have put a framework in place to
assist them.

• Speak to your Human Resources department to make sure that you follow company
protocol (don’t slip up on any disciplinary processes if they are relevant).

My first two weeks as a manager. This is one of the best things I have ever done at
work. I became the new manager of an office of 180 staff. Now, to be fair, I had 6
reportees who all had about 30 staff each so I only really had to manage 6 staff.

I had been told that this was a well run office where staff were satisfactorily motivated.
There was an attrition issue (staff leaving the company) but apparently that was due to the
fact that their jobs were inherently mundane. There was nothing that could be done about
that or so I was told.

So, on my first day I decided to do something a bit different. I decided to stop, look and
listen. I looked around the office and saw a drab, unmotivated work environment and staff
with drawn and tired faces. I realized that it was time for some investment so I had a
schedule drawn up so that I could meet 10% of the staff each day for the next 10 working
days. I asked them to meet me on a one to one basis (at agreed times that worked for
them) and to bring along with them a list of their current frustrations plus their proposals on
how to eliminate those frustrations. The former without the latter would have made my life
far too difficult and they wouldn’t have felt an integral part of the process.

Anyway, after collating their comments, eliminating duplication and purely negative
comments from those that had yet to be motivated properly, I came up with a 10 point
plan. Each of those ‘points’ was followed by the suggestions and recommendations that has
been forthcoming. I had also added my own for good order. To be fair they had come up
95% of the content and I made it clear to them that this was the case. I’m half tempted to
list out the 127 suggestions they came up with, but they were largely specific to those
teams in that office so it would only really be a filler.

However, their comments ranged from “we need a new drinks machine on the 1
st
floor as
the current one is broken” to “we should introduce a new role of deputy supervisor for each
team so that when the supervisor is away there is a second in command”. That also helped
solve part of the career progression issue as 6 staff (you do the maths) could be promoted
almost instantaneously, subject to budget approval of course.

I communicated this plan (with deliverables and deadlines) to the senior management team
and received approval for what was not such a significant financial investment (many things
were quick fixes). The action points were delivered on time and within budget. The sun
shone on all of us that day (both on my staff and on me). It’s amazing what a little bit of
listening can do. This was without doubt the single best investment of my time across my
working career. In fact it was the start of a great career with that company.

I ran that department for about 3 years before being promoted to another larger more
significant role (based on the fact that I now had a reputation for improving the efficiency
and effectiveness of the departments within the company). Those talented guys made me
look good and I can never thank them enough for it. Lots of them did well out of our
relationship too with a series of promotions, pay reviews and internal moves to arguably
more exciting parts of the business. It’s a 2-way process remember!

The annual offsite (“Awayday”). These can be very effective in bringing the team
together, building bonds, training and educating them, and allowing them to hone their own
presentation skills, writing skills, negotiation skills and the like. As long as you take the day
seriously, ask the team in advance what they would like to achieve and ensure that the day
is varied, fun and interactive it should be a roaring success. Sound easy? Well it is! In fact
half the work can be completed by outside speakers (ask the CEO if they can spend 15
minutes with your team or the global head of your function or the head of finance, sales or
marketing for your business unit).

If your team is small think about combining it with some other teams. At one work place
we combined Finance, Facilities Management and IT. It astonishes me how many shared
issues different functions want to discuss and resolve. My favorite exercise for this
combined group was to ask them to break into teams (each team had a few staff from each
function) and put together a plan for our company to move premises (something we were
thinking of doing). They had to put 3 sections in their plan. One for Finance, one for IT and
one for (wait for it) Facilities Management. I gave them some information on a couple of
sheets of paper so that they could establish the company requirements and available budget
and they put together what I must say were some pretty impressive plans. Later on they
presented the plans, so presentation skills were finely honed as well. It was a cracking day.

There are two sides to every story - part 1 (for Part 2 see ‘Chairing (running)
meetings’). It is really important to educate staff that others within the business,
particularly those in other departments, have different personalities, different goals, objects
and priorities along with different day-to-day pressures. For example, someone in the
finance department may feel frustrated that a salesperson delivers their expense claim form
one day late. They are also irritated by the fact that the salesperson’s boss will take no
steps to reprimand them. When you look at the situation from the salesperson’s lens things
can be very different. They wonder why the finance person is being so hard on them when
they are the top performer in their department (smashing through their quarterly sales
goals), when they are always courteous and polite to the guys in Finance, and when they
have been on the road for 2 weeks in back-to-back sales meetings so have not had time to
complete the travel and entertaining expense claim form. Would the Finance person rather
they put in the claim on time but missed out on a high value sale (perhaps yes?). The thing
to remember here is that different factors drive the day-to-day actions of individuals
throughout the organization. If your staff can get their heads around this it can take away
of whole load of internal stress. It doesn’t necessarily make things easier for them from a
process point of view (although perhaps when they understand the issues they may look to
change the process in order to ‘buy in’ the Sales department) but it will ensure that they

can manage their frustrations by understanding the issue from the culprit’s point of view.

Don’t’ forget to listen to new ideas. You are the chief of your team, department or
business, which means you should know that most great ideas (although not all) come from
the front-line. Ignore your staff at your peril. One analogy that remains firmly rooted in
my mind is the situation where a Captain in the army is fighting off the enemy one by one
using his sword. As they run towards him he is just about able to fight them off. However,
at the same time one of his men is tapping him on the shoulder trying to get his attention.
“Get off me” he keeps saying, “Can’t you see that I’m really tied up at the moment”. The
Private groans and tries to grab his superior’s attention a few minutes later but to no avail.
The Captain worked really hard that day and, along with his men, just about managed to
keep the enemy at bay. At the end of the day the Captain turned round to the Private and
asked “So what was so important that you kept trying to interrupt me when you could see
that I had my hands full?” The Private turned round to his Captain and showed him a box
that had arrived that day. On the outside of the package was written the words ‘Sub-
machine gun’. If only the Captain had taken the time to listen to his team he would have
performed far more effectively for the army that day.

Crossing the divide. Some advice I received very early on in my managerial career
related to the ‘us and them’ syndrome. Once I had made the jump from the front line to a
management position my boss called me in and explained that I was now part of the
management team and shouldn’t fraternize with the troops. Now, to be clear, he was not
suggesting anything other than a new approach to managing my relationships with staff.
My boss stated that I should treat staff with respect, dignity, fairness and so on (he was
explicit that this was extremely important) but I should become slightly more remote or
aloof so that I didn’t get in a tangle with my priorities or create conflicts of interest. If I was
to spend a couple of evenings a week down the pub with my staff and perhaps include
myself in conversations that were in conflict with the views that were expressed by the
management team I would lose their respect when it came to dealing with disciplinary
situations, annual appraisals, pay reviews and so on. The ‘take-away’ is to jump across the

divide and become a strong, supportive and effective manager and recognize that to be so
you may need to create some ‘distance’ from your staff.

Be the boss you want your boss to be. We’re all pretty good at identifying the areas
where our bosses could improve in terms of their management style and capabilities. Does
that mean we are ourselves the perfect managers? I’d like to say yes, but when I write
down all the characteristics I expect my boss to possess and all the skills I am sure he
should have acquired I’m left with quite a formidable list. When I use this list to assess my
own performance and qualities (perhaps rate each out of 10) I don’t score anywhere near
maximum points. Hmm, I’ve still got a lot to learn and am aware of the improvements I
can make. Why not try this for yourself. It is a great way of prioritizing some of your
management capability objectives for the following year.
Leading
There is much debate on the differences between ‘leading’ and ‘managing’ or on how one
progresses from a manager to a leader. From my point of view great managers are also
greater leaders. They may not set the strategy for the firm but they certainly lead their
staff making them into more polished, experienced and developed staff.

Therefore, this chapter highlights a number of leadership qualities that all managers should
aspire to. Hopefully you will find that you have many of these qualities already.

• Practice what you preach. As a manager (or leader) you should ensure that
conduct yourself in the same manner as you would expect your staff to do so. If you
want the team to arrive on time in the mornings, not to take extended lunch hours
and show respect for one another, you should do the same. If you don’t follow the
values and principles that you set out for your team, they won’t take them seriously
and almost certainly won’t adhere to them and incorporate them into their daily
working lives. In other words, be a great role model.

• Integrity. A good leader will possess a high level of integrity and will be a trusted

advisor to their teams and peers. Ensure that this quality is apparent in your ways
of working.

• Gain and retain trust. Be honest with your staff, gain and then retain their trust.
Don’t bluff. Don’t lie. If you break the trust of your staff you will lose their respect.
This may not manifest itself in day to day conversations and catch-ups but the
relationships you have will be weakened and your ability to lead the team when
times are tough will be that much harder. Why should they work late that night or
give up a weekend for you if they don’t trust that you have their best intentions at
heart?

• Trust them. You will benefit as a leader if you can clearly demonstrate that you
trust your staff. When you set a task or project trust them to complete it correctly
and on time. Give them the space to grow as individuals by allowing them to
‘mature’ in the workplace.

• Communicate effectively. When communication lines breakdown or where
directions given are unclear or incoherent staff will lose both trust and respect for
you. Don’t let all the good work of developing relationships go to waste by sitting in
your ivory tower and assuming all is well on the front-line. The best communicators
are often the best leaders and in many cases they progress high up the career
ladder. Use this skill regularly and check in with staff that the frequency of
communications along with the clarity and content within them is right to meet their
needs as a team within the business.

• Show interest in front-line work. Great leaders ensure that they take time out of
their hectic daily schedules to experience and learn about (in some detail) the
pressures, issues and concerns of their teams. By shadowing a team member for a
few hours or by reviewing with them one or two of the processes that they see as
most ineffective you will very quickly begin to understand some of the issues facing

them. By the virtue of the fact that you have a ‘helicopter view’ of their area, and
how their role and the function interrelates to other areas of the business, you are
more than likely able to propose some solutions to their problems. At the very least
you should be able to demonstrate understanding and empathy. So get out there,
spend some time with your team and show an interest in their everyday working
lives. They are sure to respond well. [Caution: if you are going to review some of
their tasks and processes communicate clearly the reason for doing so. Without an
upfront briefing staff may misinterpret your actions as being a review of their
personal effectiveness and capabilities or they may even think that whole or part of
their role is at risk of redundancy.]

Building joy into your work
I love my job. I can’t wait to get up in the morning, get on the train and sit at my desk all
day adding value and consciously acknowledging (and being acknowledged for) the terrific
contribution I make to the business. My job is really my hobby which I love with a passion
and I’m so fortunate to be paid for what I enjoy doing.

Does this sound like your job? No? Well it doesn’t sound like mine either. It’s not that I
don’t enjoy my role. I do, very much. It’s just that 99% of us are not in jobs that are all
about fun, adventure or about using some amazing inherent talent that we possess and get
to exercise every day.

This is why I am a great believer in thinking through the aspects of my role that I really
enjoy and focus at least some attention on how I can introduce things I like doing.

Examples of what you may (or may not) enjoy are as follows:

• Developing your team and seeing them prosper and progress through the
organization (with all the acknowledgments that come your way)

• Specifically, running your own be-spoke short training sessions and encouraging your
team members to get actively involved, enjoying the thankful and supportive
feedback they provided

• Building great relationships both within and outside your organization (see
‘Networking’).

• Applying the skills you learn to support voluntary work you perform outside business
hours. Perhaps you provide management support, finance training or support,
mentoring or something else from your talent base.

• Improving productivity within your team and also assisting other teams with your
process re-engineering experience

• Managing large scale assignments making use of your project management and
diplomatic skills.

• Learning more about the marketplace. Perhaps understanding more about the
cultures across different geographical regions.

• Traveling and seeing the sites, beyond airport lounges and hotel lobbies. If you
organize things correctly can you perhaps see more of the world at no cost to the
company?

• Would you enjoy playing with the 5-a-side team at lunchtimes or perhaps taking
your team for a coffee more often?

• Would you enjoy introducing more out of work activities for the team?

My advice to you, particularly if you are not happy in your current role but have no intention

of moving on to another role or career, is to build as many of these (the ones that you like)
into your role. Some will lend themselves much more easily than others but I challenge you
not to find at least 2 to 3 things that can help lighten up your day.

When one of your team members moves to another organization and thanks you for being
such an amazing mentor (perhaps saying you’re the best manager they have ever had)
what would that mean to you? If perhaps a charity writes to you to thank you for all the
skills you have brought to their business and how it has benefited those in need, how
valuable would that make you feel?

So, if this is relevant to you, please take the time to look at your current work situation and
ensure that you look after yourself for a change. You should of course discuss this with
your manager to see whether they can also help to introduce additional enjoyment to your
work-life.

Actively managing your career
What often comes as a surprise to many people is that in many situations you have great
scope to manage your career. Waiting year after year for your boss to give you that
promotion (that never comes) with the saving grace being your freedom to curse them in
private and (in some cases, and unadvisedly) in public, is not a great place to be. So if you
feel that your career is not being managed well by others (or even if it is) there is a lot that
you can do to better your cause. These are:

• Take credit for the things you have done. Don’t show off. Simply be clear and
transparent about your accomplishments and communicate them.

• Have a clear plan of where you want to be career-wise in (say) 5 years.
Note down the steps, perhaps in 6 month tranches, that you must take to get there
and monitor that your career is tracking as required.

• Do your core job well. Remember that if you do your core job well it is a great
launch-pad for career advancement. However, if the basics are not done well you
will be continually pegged back and at some point the phrase ‘don’t run before you
can walk’ will be uttered and you will feel demoralized.

• Challenging your pay or status. This is a really tough one and hence I’m
reluctant to provide advice as each situation is different as is every boss. However, I
believe that a good rule is not to challenge your pay or status multiple times. I think
that it is appropriate to question your level of compensation and/or your status if it is
clear to you that you are punching well above your weight and that compared to
your peers you are not being treated fairly. A good manager will try to pre-empt
such conversations to ensure that you are fairly rewarded throughout your career
but that is not always possible as the purse strings are often outside their control. If
you make a play for (say) an increased base salary make sure that you are confident
in the value you bring the business. If your boss says “no” you are left in an
awkward situation. Your boss knows that you may now be upset (and may rightly or
wrongly perceive that you are now less motivated than before the request was
made) which could affect your position going forward. However, if it is clear that you
add value and that you are not being properly compensated for what you do a
conversation may be worthwhile. Make the conversation friendly, be tactful and
make sure you don’t lose the respect of your manager. If you are fortunate enough
to receive a pay rise or promotion remember that your boss may have gone out on a
limb to get this for you so thank them as appropriate. The thing to remember is
that you can’t and shouldn’t play this game too often. Your boss may not thank you
for repeating this exercise each year. However, my advice is to tread carefully,
show respect and assess the situation carefully. Perhaps lobby some trustworthy
confidants. Always remember that if your boss doesn’t think you merit a pay
increase or change in status or already believes that you are paid more than market
rates, this could be the beginning of the end for you in that business.

• Don’t over expose yourself. One piece of advice I received many moons ago,
which has proven to be of such value, is the notion that you shouldn’t take too many
things on at one time. In other words it is far better to be remembered for doing
one thing really well than to be remembered for doing five things really badly. The
tip here is not to become overly ambitious and take too many projects or tasks on if
there is a reasonable chance that you will sink under all the workload. This doesn’t
of course mean that you shouldn’t put yourself forward for juicy project work or
tasks of specific interest to you, but rather to make wise choices and go for those
that you either enjoy (if that is more important to you) and/or those that help
demonstrate the value you add to the business. Take on too many and you could fail
at all of them, including the ones that you would otherwise succeed at hands down.

• Delegation. I was debating whether to place this topic under ‘Managing Staff’ or
‘Actively managing your career’ as it fits equally well under both categories. To be
clear:

o By delegating work to your team they will learn new tasks and procedures
and grow faster as individuals from a career development point of view. I
have witnessed time and again managers trying to take on the full work-load
of their teams (often individuals who have been appointed as managers for
the first time in their career). After all, they may have done the work
themselves beforehand and can certainly perform it faster and more
efficiently than their staff. Of course the issue here is that by not delegating
you are limiting the chances of your team reaching their full potential.
Perhaps you are worried about losing your job, which leads me on to the next
point.

o By delegating to your team, training them up on the necessary tasks and
ensuring that they develop the required skills, you are not only doing what’s
right for them (so you have a clear conscience) but you are also investing for

the future. It shouldn’t be that long, if they are right for the role and you are
training them effectively, for them to be as good as you were, or at least on a
clear trajectory to get to that state. As their level of competence and speed,
increases you acquire more time to dedicate your efforts to higher level tasks.
As a result you can go to your boss and ask for more interesting work to
perform. Not only should your boss recognize that you have done a good job
with staff development, they should also be able to pass on to you some of
their work, which should free up their time. Everyone’s a winner! Going back
a few years from now, a senior colleague of mine summarized this approach
with the phrase “You should always try to delegate yourself out of a job”.
That is, once you land a new role, train up your team to take on your
workload so that you can move onto the next level, to some extent
underwriting your chances of promotion.

• Consider the Politics game (see later).

• Relative performance considerations. Have you ever wondered why a glittering
career within an organization suddenly falters without your effort, output or
achievements going off track? Well, this can sometimes happen when you least
expect it and it often appears to fall outside your control. Like with a 100 meter
sprint or some exams, how good you are may not be as important as how good the
competition is. In the workplace you may have been destined for a particular role,
but then someone arrives who has more experience, more gravitas and better
political skills ‘forcing’ themselves into prime candidate position. To counter this,
work hard at all the elements in this book. By coming stronger at all these ‘rough
guide’ skills I am confident that the person who gains the competitive advantage will
be you.

• Managing egos. There is a fine balance between speaking your mind and
damaging your career by upsetting one of the power bases within the company.

Being open, honest and frank may be your natural approach and arguably lends itself
far better to certain functions (Finance, Facilities Management, Operations and IT).
However, whether you are within these departments or not it is very important to
understand how to approach someone in a position of power and bring up what could
be a sensitive or controversial issue. It’s not hard to raise an issue with someone
senior, expecting them to see your frankness as a positive skill, but if they don’t take
kindly to your ‘interference’ they may react in an adverse manner, either straight
away or over the fullness of time. One example I know about, is of a peer (in a
senior position) whose ideas were effectively railroaded in a meeting by their boss.
Perhaps they hadn’t briefed their boss appropriately beforehand or truly had ideas
that didn’t merit further discussion. Whatever the realities, the individual in question
went to see their boss later and stated that they didn’t appreciate being ‘bullied’ and
that their confidence had been knocked as a result. Their boss duly apologized but
then went on to add that the individual lacked gravitas for bringing the matter up
and that they should try to find some course to go on that would improve both their
maturity and credibility. That individual didn’t last much longer at the company.
They had effectively been told that they didn’t have what it took to rise through the
ranks of the organization. So tread carefully, think through any sensitive or
contentious issues before raising them. Make sure that your actions don’t backfire
on you. Like yourself you boss has an ego and won’t want to be reprimanded.

• Build a strong brand for yourself (see later)

• Be treated as you want to be treated. There is a phrase that ‘behavior breeds
behavior’. If you are petulant, moody, immature and unsupportive of your boss
don’t expect them to treat you with a high level or respect and treat you as someone
with credibility and gravitas. You should act in the manner that you wish to be
treated. If you exude confidence (not arrogance of course), maturity and fair
judgment, your boss is likely to view you as a person that possesses such qualities.
So, before you complain about the way your boss treats you, have an honest and

diligent review of self and establish whether there is anything you can do to rectify
the situation on a stand-alone basis. You may be surprised about how much you can
sway their opinion by changing your persona.

How to write
This is the easiest thing to get right but the most common thing to get wrong. I see so
many emails, letters and memos that have simple but yet detracting errors in them. Yes,
this is one of my pet dislikes and I regularly remind my staff to do that one important thing
- read through your communication before you communicate it.

It’s not that any of us are that unintelligent that we would deliberately write glaring errors
such as ‘we have did very well on the project’. It’s just that we originally wrote ‘we have
done very well on the project’ and then meant to change it (for some reason) to ‘we did
very well on the project’. But guess what, one of our team came into the office we were
distracted and couldn’t be bothered to read through the email from the beginning again. So
we just send it out. And so the risk is that our team, our boss and the senior management
team all form the impression that we don’t know how to write simple communications. Yes,
REMEMBER TO READ THROUGH YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU SEND IT OUT. I remember one
of my teachers telling me this when I got an ‘E’ for an essay assignment (he didn’t give any
‘Fs’) as I had clearly failed to read through my work. Perhaps I was fortunate that this
event happened so early on in my life. But hey, if this is an issue for you, it’s the simplest
one to correct. Whoopee!

So now that we all read through our work before distributing it let’s move on to the all
important bullet point list:

• Read through your work (couldn’t resist it!)

• Write in paragraphs

• Spell-check your work. Oh, and by the way, spell-checking your work doesn’t
mean that it has now been 100% auto-corrected. Wow, the amount of times I see
things like ‘what have we leant form this’ rather than ‘what have we learnt from
this’. The guy run it through spell-check but didn’t read through before sending. [By
the way, this book has been proof-reader by the publisher along with most of my
friends and family so if you find any typos or grammatical errors please write to
them directly. If I remember I’ll include their names and addresses in the reference
section].

• Get someone else to read it. If it’s that important send it to a colleague, work pal
or even to your boss (marked draft) so that they can use fresh eyes to pick up on
the errors that your brain no longer has the capacity to identify.

• Know your audience. Is it the end of the story once you have developed your
effective writing style? Well, no. It is important to remember that the style and
content of your communication will change depending upon the audience. One
example I came across was as follows: “You are one day late in submitting your
expense claim and as such you have breached company policy. Please note that if
the claim is not submitted within the next 3 working days or a valid reason provided
for why that is not possible it will not be processed for re-imbursement”. OK, this is
a pretty strict email and the wording may be effective in making people jump and
following protocol. However, in this particular case the email had been sent directly
to the CEO of the company who had been on business travel for 3 weeks. Rightly or
wrongly (you decide) the CEO did not take kindly to such an instruction and within
one hour the standard communication had been reviewed and updated. That is not
to say that one rule should apply for more junior staff and one for more senior staff
(that’s simply unfair) but when you communicate with an individual think about their
level of seniority and question yourself on whether the wording you use will generate
the desired reaction from the recipient. So when writing a communication please
think about the following:

o How senior is the person (or people) receiving the communication?

o Is the tone of the email reasonable? Is it perhaps too harsh or indeed soft?

o What is the likely reaction from the communication? Will it perhaps kick-off
some type of ‘email war’?

o If there are deadlines set are they reasonable? It may not be wise to corner
senior members of staff or show them up in a bad light. Some of your senior
colleagues can certainly influence your career and reputation.

o How would you react to the email? If your reaction is likely to be adverse
then so is theirs.

o Is the title clear, concise and ‘eye-catching’? If it is truly important that all
staff read the email (rather than them sending it direct to their email ‘bins’)
then make sure the title includes ‘Important’ or ‘PLEASE READ’ or
‘***ACTION REQUIRED***’ or whatever is necessary but reasonable to grab
their attention.

• Send the email to yourself for review first (if it is an email). Do you know, it is
amazing how often I spot spelling, grammar and other errors in one of my
communications by sending it to myself to read first. As my brain becomes tired
since I have drafted and amended an email multiple times, I send it to myself and
then take a short break before reading it again, normally grabbing a coffee. I then
typically spot all the things I should have detected earlier as my word blindness has
disappeared. Try it and see whether it works for you.

• Imagine you are your own boss. Another trick of the trade is to imagine that you

are your boss and read the email from their perspective. If you are the ultimate
boss of your company thanks for buying this book, but I feel that you should be
reading one about strategy that incorporates impressive diagrams and flow-charts
along with incompressible buzzwords and complicated diction. Seriously, if you look
at your communication from your boss’s point of view there’s a great chance that
you’ll spot all the things that they would.


Presentation Skills
This is a biggy! So many people present poorly. It’s not that they can’t be good
presenters. It’s just that they have never been taught how to present, or even worse, no-
one can be bothered to tell them that they need to improve.

So you know, it doesn’t really matter whether there are 4 of you in a meeting or you are
presenting to five hundred people (I’ve done both). The same rules apply. These are:

• Have fun. If you go up there to have fun this will rub off on the audience and, to be
frank, they will thank you for it. Even if you are nervous put on a big friendly smile
and feel good about yourself. Everyone has to listen to you for a change and you
have their full and undivided attention.

• Rehearse. Even the best speakers rehearse multiple times. I’m talking in front of a
mirror or in front of your friends, family (unless confidential!) or a work colleague.
Not quietly in your mind but aloud. Be vocal.

• Slides. If you use slides or other visuals please ensure that:

o They are not crowded. People gasp when the slides are crowded with words,
figures, diagrams etc. Keep content down to a minimum.

o They match to what you are saying. Don’t have a slide that shows a diagram
of how to put a wheel on a car while talking about the exhaust pipe. This is
something I often witness. So please don’t talk about something that isn’t on
the slide to avoid confusing the audience.

o They are fun (if possible and appropriate). Avoid immature jokey slides but
do include visuals that will grab the audience’s attention and will wake them
up.

• Make them laugh. If you have the confidence, make the audience laugh. We’re
not talking about being a stand-up comedian but some amusing anecdote (short) or
some dry wit can come across well. If in doubt, then leave this out. You’ll get the
feeling after a few presentations whether you can pull this off. But if you can make
it fun the audience is far more likely to remember your conversation. Do you want a
real life example? Yes? Well, I once worked for a company that was expanding very
rapidly in the following markets: Tobacco, Drugs (not that sort), Beverages and
Health. I wanted to portray to the audience that we were doing well in these so
called ‘recession-proof’ sectors (that is companies that do well even when we don’t
have much money to spend during a recession). So I stated that ‘the results
indicate that our customers are down-hearted and hence drinking themselves to
death, smoking themselves to death and taking drugs (yes I used artistic license
here) and then ending up in hospital’. Ok, I was joking, but two years later a
colleague came up to me and reminded me of the joke and said that their part of the
business had invested in those markets and become the fastest growing part of the
company. I just stated a fact in an amusing way. My colleague had used that fact
to improve the business. But the great thing is that my presentation had been
remembered by someone two years later. I slept well that night.